WINOOSKI - Police shot and killed a man Friday in Winooski, the third fatal confrontation involving law enforcement in Vermont since December and the latest in a recent outburst of violence in the city.

The names of the man who died, the officer who fired and the circumstances that led to the gunfire were unclear Friday. The Vermont State Police, the lead agency handling the case, declined to provide those details or even to say for which law-enforcement agency the officer in question worked.

"This investigation is in its very early stages and is expected to continue throughout the night, specifically regarding the processing of the scene," Maj. Glenn Hall, commander of the Criminal Division, said in a statement at 9:45 p.m., about five hours after the shooting at the end of Hickok Street, near the O'Brien Community Center.

A body was visible lying on the pavement in the hours after the late afternoon incident.

"Once the scene is processed, the decedent will be transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for autopsy to determine cause and manner of death," Hall added. "The name of the decedent is not being released at this time, pending positive identification and notification of next of kin. The identity of officers involved and their respective agencies is not being released at this time."

Police cordoned off Hickok Street. Down the street, a white sheet covered what appeared to be a body. A leg and foot stuck out from under the sheet, visible behind a pair of Colchester police cruisers.

On the other side of the yellow tape, neighbors came out of their homes to watch the commotion. A Burlington police officer told residents of West Street that if they left their street, they would be prohibited from returning while the investigation was ongoing.

The state police was working with Winooski police and Chittenden County prosecutors. After the investigation concludes, Hall said, "there will be an independent review conducted by the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, as is customary for all officer-involved shootings."

The shooting happened in the vicinity of the building that houses the O'Brien Community Center, the YMCA, the Winooski Memorial Library, Vermont Works for Women and other groups. The site is between Hickok Street and Malletts Bay Avenue, to the northwest of the central downtown traffic circle.

Winooski police Lt. Scott McGivern said at about 7 p.m. that officers were setting up a break room in the community center with food and water. McGivern expected investigators to be on the scene for many hours.

Friday's incident was the third fatal police shooting in less than nine months. In December, law enforcement agents killed Kenneth Stephens, 56, during a drug raid in Burlington's Old North End after he pointed a muzzleloader rifle at them. In March, Burlington police shot Ralph "Phil" Grenon, 76, who was suffering from mental illness and charged at police with two large knives in his downtown apartment.

Friday in Winooski, City Manager Ray Coffey said on the scene shortly before 6 p.m. that there was no public safety threat.

Bram Kranichfeld, Chittenden County deputy state's attorney, said his office was working with the state police, but he had no further information to share. Kranichfeld was at the site of the shooting before he drove off with a Vermont State Police detective around 7:30 p.m.

This was the second officer-involved shooting in Winooski since April 2013, when police officer Jason Nokes shot and wounded Isaac Sage, a mentally ill man.

Friday's shooting also represented the latest in a string of violent incidents in the city since mid-August, including three bank robberies and a fight that left a man dead and prompted a murder charge.

Then on Aug. 27, police say, a fight broke out during which Bradley Senna, 17, punched David Hojohn, 54, who died in the hospital a 11 days later. Senna has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

This story was first posted online on Sept. 16, 2016, and has been updated.

Correction: The shooting scene was northwest of the downtown traffic circle. The direction was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.

Contact Jess Aloe at 802-660-1874, jaloe@freepressmedia.com and on Twitter at @jess_aloe. Contact Adam Silverman at 802-660-1854, asilverman@freepressmedia.com, and on Twitter at @wej12. Contributing: April Burbank, Cory Dawson and Clover Whitham of the Free Press.

Do you have a breaking news tip? Call us at 802-660-6500 or send us a post on Facebook or Twitter using #BFPTips.

Buy Photo

A police officer speaks to children who were playing on a playground near the O'Brien Community Center as law enforcement officers investigate an officer-involved shooting Friday evening in Winooski.(Photo: CORY DAWSON/FREE PRESS)